Imraan Al-Hariq

Name: Imraan Al-Hariq

Gender: Male

Age: 18 (Birthday - January 16)

Grade: 12

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Basketball, Soccer, GODSpeed Christian Club, Church Activities, Volunteer Work, Law/Current Events

Appearance: Standing at just under 6 feet, 8 inches tall, one might charitably say that Imraan stands out in a crowd. He's possibly the tallest student at Bayview, so it makes sense that he's the starting center for the basketball team. Imraan is Arabic, with a naturally lanky and gangling frame of 195 pounds. He's well-conditioned and well-muscled, especially in the shoulders and calves, but he could still stand to gain weight and definition to his frame.

Although he's not considered ugly by any means, Imraan's extreme height has lead to a lot of his features being exaggerated. He's got a long face with large brown eyes and big ears, and although he has a winning smile, he has a habit of leaving his mouth agape, especially in gametime situations. In a stereotypically Arabic fashion, Imraan is naturally hirsute, with short but thick, slightly curly black hair that he sometimes tries to spike and style and other times just lets flop around on his head. He's got bushy eyebrows and always looks like he could use a shave.

Imraan naturally has some problems finding clothes that fit his frame, and can usually be found wearing jerseys and athletic wear. Much to the consternation of his mother, he's recently become a huge fan of various Christian hip-hop artists and has incorporated some fashion aspects of the rap world into his wardrobe, such as urban-style jeans and 4XL shirts, although he draws the line at wearing anything that could even remotely be called "bling".

Biography: Imraan was born in the city of Nablus in the West Bank, one of the largest cities in the Palestinian territory. His mother Nisreen worked part-time as a nurse and attendant at a city hospital, while his father Khalood was a bus driver and reservist in the Palestinian National Authority. Growing up Muslim in one of the most contested areas in the world meant that armed checkpoints, military officers on the streets, and the occasional distant explosion were just part of growing up, although his family never lived in fear of their lives. In 1995, control of the city of Nablus was rescinded by Israel to the PNA. Nisreen, under the belief that the fighting between the PNA and Israeli National Forces would only get worse from there, applied for a Green Card to move her family to the United States. The process was not completed until 1998, by which time Imraan's parents had come to an impasse about whether to stay or leave. His father argued that the PNA's authority would surely lead to an end to fighting and an independent Palestinian state, which his mother refused to believe.

After several months of arguing, Nisreen made the difficult decision to leave her husband behind and escape to America on her own. This was made even more trying when Imraan's 14-year-old brother Ahmad refused to go, electing to stay behind in Nablus with his father. The two of them would leave Palestine in late 1998 with very little beyond the clothes on their backs and what little money Nisreen had managed to save.

Imraan and his mother settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where her estranged brother was living at the time. Life for Imraan was difficult in the first few years after they moved to the States. He was an outcast in school owing to his troubles with English, and with his mother working the night shift while trying to put herself through nursing college and learn enough English to get by herself, the family was strained and barely above poverty level. In 2000, Imraan's uncle received a new job offer and moved to Ohio, leaving the two of them struggling even more. This was compounded by the aftermath of 9/11, and being both large in stature and quick to anger, Imraan found himself in more than one schoolyard fight as a result. Other kids mostly stopped picking fights with Imraan after he grew to be the tallest student in class, but he was still sullen and angry, and Nisreen, who had converted to Christianity soon after arriving in Minneapolis, could not persuade him to put aside his anger at others.

Finally, when he was in the eighth grade, Nisreen was offered a nursing position in a private rehabilitation and addictions treatment facility located just outside St. Paul. This new position finally afforded them the financial stability they'd been looking for, and Nisreen wasted no time in moving them to a modest house in the suburbs of St. Paul. Entering the ninth grade at Bayview, Imraan had shot up to almost six feet in height, which is when he was first recruited to play basketball.

He took to the game very quickly, and combined with his skill as a forward on the soccer team, Imraan found himself actually being accepted by his peers for the first time. He'd also grudgingly promised he'd try to spend more time on church activities, first by attending prayer meetings with her, then seeking them out on his own. Imraan became enamored with the tenets of Christianity, finding them a stark contrast to what he'd considered the somewhat barbaric nature of the Islamic faith he had grown up with. He soon found himself taking part in various church and volunteer activities both in and out of school, and worked extremely hard to fit his lifestyle into the teachings of Christ.

Since then, Imraan has somehow found himself as one of the more popular students in the school. He hasn't been in a fight since once letting his anger get the best of him in tenth grade, and bears very little resemblance to the angry kid that had lived in poverty in downtown Minneapolis. His skills underneath the basket have helped the basketball team become one of the best in the state. He's also a leader in the school's Christian community, trying to show that you can be both a popular jock and a Christian, and hoping to win people to Christ through a friendly face and show of respect rather than what he feels are outdated "turn or BURN!" evangelical methods. He doesn't take part in bullying, drugs, or alcohol, and tries to serve as a role model to as many people as possible. However, he is still stubborn and can be argumentative, and has turned some people away from him owing to his refusal to concede a point. He'll often dismiss the opinions of others and brood over minor issues, and this has led to some people finding him to be egocentric and too enamored with his own beliefs to give them credence.

Academically, Imraan achieves high marks in English and the social sciences, although he's always struggled with hard science and mathematics. He's not naturally gifted, and the marks he gets owe mostly to his high work ethic and desire to get into a good college. Imraan has relatively little patience with people he considers lazy, believing that their lack of a work ethic is the only one holding them back from success in or out of school.

In his senior year, Imraan became a good deal more stressed and lost some of his friendly demeanour. He lost a lot of his time to socialize and just hang out, as he tried to balance athletics, volunteer work, his studies, and his new part-time job. This led to him becoming less active than he would have liked to be with GODSpeed, and dropping off the soccer team to concentrate on basketball. But it all paid off to Imraan when Bayview made it to the State Finals before losing, and he found himself the recipient of a basketball scholarship to the University of Dayton in Ohio. Imraan's wish is to go on to law school following his studies at college, and perhaps work in the future as an immigration lawyer, helping people receive the same opportunities that he did.

Advantages: Imraan's a popular and well liked student at Bayview, with good relationships between people both popular and not. He's seen as a natural leader, and he's fairly smart, especially on current issues. He can also argue well and diffuse situations in some cases. He's nearly 6'8" and a superstar athlete, and he has been in fights before, if not in some time. Very few sane people will want to take him on physically, and his size alone is likely to dissuade potential violence.

Disadvantages: Imraan hasn't been in an actual fight in a long time, and that's not even taking into account the fact that he will not want to believe that any of his classmates could be capable of violence on the scale of SOTF. He's also been under a great deal of stress and while he's not exactly close to "snapping", he might not react well to people expecting too much of him. Imraan's huge frame will automatically draw attention to himself and he has no skills in stealth whatsoever. Finally, although he's well liked, he's still argumentative and stubborn. Some students dislike him for what they consider to be a holier than thou attitude, and some in the Christian community are turned off by his unorthodox look and background.

Designated Number: Male student no. 22

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Designated Weapon: 81. Remington 870 (load capacity: 8 shells, x16 shells provided)

Conclusion: Ohoho, a shotgun for Mr. Al-Hariq is it. Well with a physique like his all I can say is... wait, another 'can't see the need for violence' type? OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I give up on this school, I really do. Here's hoping somebody capable gets their hands on his shotgun.

'The above biography is as written by D/N. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: D/N, Namira

Kills: None

Killed By: Ivan Kuznetsov

Collected Weapons: Remington 870 (load capacity: 8 shells, x16 shells provided) (Assigned Weapon)

Allies: None

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Imraan, in chronological order

The Past:

No threads

Pre-game:
 * For The Kingdom, The Power And Glory Are Yours
 * The Daily Grind
 * It's Dating Time
 * Twin Towers
 * They Got Game

V4:
 * Wants and Needs
 * Your Cross To Bear
 * Keep Yourself Alive
 * Shaker
 * May The Lord Accept This Sacrifice At Our Hands
 * You Always Get What's Coming
 * Back in St. Paul, if Just for an Evening...
 * Maria Graham's Series of Unfortunae Events
 * Feel a Fear
 * Panic Attack

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Imraan Al-Hariq. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * In hindsight, the biggest problem I had with Imraan was circumstances sort of shoehorning him into becoming a zealous player-hunter, which was exactly what I'd hoped to avoid happening when I started with him. I tried to dictate his thoughts to get across that he was more than a cliched "KILL THE GODLESS HEATHENS" type of hunter, and I don't know if I succeeded at that, because I could never find Imraan's voice to the point that I was truly comfortable writing him. I ended up with a lot of goofy imagery and became repetitive so that I could REALLY REALLY IN CAPITAL LETTERS make sure that anyone reading knew precisely what his motivations were supposed to be. I still like the big guy, just not sure if he worked as a central POV sort of character. And he was damn hard to write. Good practice, I guess, but for v5 I'll probably stick to a roster of selfish asshole kids and leave the goody-two-shoes to people who can write them better. :P - D/N


 * Imraan was off to a slow start but I came to really love the kid and when Jessica died, I understood why he was playing and why he felt the way he felt. The fact that I understood him and why he was doing things led me to be very attached to him towards the end and I was rooting for this guy. DN is a really great writer and it crushed me at the end of Imraan's run when he was handed over to the handlers of Ivan and Tabi to be a manacing puppet so much so that he never even had a proper death post. I wish you'd have stuck with him, DN. Imraan was quiality stuff. -Ruggahissy
 * I liked Imraan a lot, especially at the start of the game. It was cool to see a Christian character who both practiced what they preached and struggled with things at times. Imraan always tried to do what was best, but as the game went on he became more and more confused as to what that really was. He had an established character from pregame, and his actions in V4 very much flowed naturally from what we knew about him.

The big problem I think is that, yeah, Imraan does decide to go after players in a way that comes off as a bit of a jump. It's not the root of the thought; after what he sees with Peter and Jessie, it's a reasonable enough course to take. It's just that Imraan becomes so much less willing to compromise or slow down and think, and the reasoning behind that is never super clear, especially since he cuts the other Peter and Kaitlin pretty good benefit of the doubt. He feels sort of shoehorned in as a bogeyman for Ivan and Tabi, which works fine for their story but is frustrating because there's easily enough to Imraan to give him a little more credit in the sequence and to still get them into a very bad spot but go through more of his rationale in doing so and make the morality in play a bit less black and white. Imraan thrives in the grey situations, but doesn't get many in his lategame. And then, of course, his death is an anticlimax. I still recommend checking him out, though. He's by and large quite good; his last few threads just have some pretty evident flaws. - MurderWeasel